Advantages

Disadvantages

A great sauce for 29p and no hassle

In an effort to be healthy, each week, I try to make sure we have at least one portion of fish for dinner, however fish by itself can often be rather bland and I always like to have some sort of sauce or topping for the fish to give it a little bit of flavour.

Up to about a year ago, I had never tried Hollandaise sauce, until my mother in law made it to go with some fresh salmon, and I couldn't quite believe how delicious it was and how, for so many years, I had never tried it. Previously I had often bought white sauce, cheese sauce or even parsley sauce as a compliment to fish, as I also hate eating a dry dinner.

Hollandaise is however meant to be a rather tricky thing to make, due to the yolks changing consistency when heated, so knowing that, there was no way that I would have attempted to make it myself. Thankfully Hollandaise sauce packets are readily available in the supermarket, and in fact there are a couple of brands who product their own packet sauce of Hollandaise, including this one by Colman's, costing just under 30p for a 21g pack.

Real Hollandaise sauce is a mix of egg yolks, butter and lemon juice, however with this packet, all that it required of you is some butter and milk. Although I have only used Hollandaise sauce for fish, I know some people like to drizzle it over vegetables, such as asparagus, and I also tend to put it over the potatotes that I cook that accompany the fish, and it all tastes yummy.

This packet of Hollandaise sauce claims to contain no artificial colours, no added msg and no artificial preservatives. There is no doubt that making your own would be healthier I'm sure, as according to the nutritional information on the front of this packet, a 85ml serving contains 100 calories, 4.6g of sugar, 6.6g of fat, of which 3.7g are saturates and 0.6g of salt.

As I mentioned, like a lot of packet sauces, this is pretty easy to make, by simply melting some butter, empting the packet contents and then stirring in the milk, then bringing it to the boil whilst stirring all the time. The problem however that I generally encounter however, is that although I try to keep stirring continuously, I often have other food cooking at the same time and need to check on them as well, and so even taking my hand off stirring for a minute or two, seems to stop the sauce from being as free from lumps as I would like. I tend to find this happens more often with packets of Hollandaise sauce than the likes of parsley sauce, but it may be due to the contents of the packet. It isn't the end of the world however, and I usually just get a sieve out to get rid of any little lumps in the sauce, and so end up with a smooth sauce over my fish.

The sauce really is delicious, particularly over salmon, and there is a real buttery taste to it that tastes great over the other vegetables you are likely to have on the plate as well. For 29p, I don't know who would be bothered to make their own complicated Hollandaise sauce, and this is a great storecupboard essential, however it is a good idea to have someone else on hand to kep stirring whilst you look after the other food that is cooking if you want a lump free sauce.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Tart up your brekkie, lunch, or din dins!

I first came across Hollandaise sauce in New York, when my aunt ordered a plate of Eggs Benedict. Somewhat perplexed by the pale yellow goo covering her breakfast (although intrigued), I thought it was probably just a showy American way to eat your eggs and muffins. "Pah" I thought to myself, and forgot all about it until I came across a sachet of Hollandaise on offer for 17p in Tesco (usually between 65-73p).

**Product**

For those uncouth lot (such as myself) who may not have come across Hollandaise sauce before; it is traditionally a sauce consisting of lemon juice, butter, salt, pepper, & egg yolks [well, that's the basic gist of it anyway, I'm no chef I'm afraid!].

Colman's Hollandaise sauce is available in 23g sachets, and looks exactly like the dooyoo picture.

I will not list the ingredients as there is nothing controversial. This sauce is suitable for vegetarians, but does contain wheat, eggs, & dairy extracts so vegans and those with allergies will have to give this one a miss.

To make the sauce, the pack tells you to "just add fresh milk and butter". If made up according to instructions, it should make around half a pint of sauce.

To make sauce:

BAM - Out comes saucepanPPFFFT - Pour in sachet contentsSPLOSH - Milk goes inSTIIIRRR/BUBBBBLE/FFFTTTZZZ/"BUM! That's going to burn on!" - Bring to boil whilst stirring. Try not to let boil over as I usually do.PLOP - Add in the butterLIIIITTLE BUBBLES - Two minutes of simmering and it's done. Sauce thickens up perfectly on standing.

Obviously the pack instructions are a little more specific than those listed above.

**Results**

I've made this sauce a few times now, and have been nothing but happy with the result.

Taste wise, the product (IMO) has just the right balance of tartness (from the lemon & citric acid), balanced with the creaminess. This means that it is not too sickly (as I feel it would be if it lacked some of the acidic 'kick'). Although you can very much taste the salt and pepper seasoning, I feel that neither of them is too much. In fact, it could be quite easy to get this wrong and be left with a rather bland creamy sauce.The sauce (although having a rather distinctive taste), is not so overpowering that it will ruin dishes.

The sauce mixes up perfectly, which means I never have to battle powdery lumps. I often make it up without adding the recommended butter, as I feel that the sauce has a lovely buttery taste as it is without needing to add the extra (plus I have to think of the calories). The sauce will still end up looking the same (a pale, creamy yellow). It also makes no difference to the consistency; it still is nice and thick after pouring.Obviously this is down to personal preference, but I think I prefer it without, as the sauce is already quite salty (so if adding salted butter), this may make it a little too much so.

Although Hollandaise is recommended as an accompaniment to fish, I tend to use mine for Eggs Benedict (when I'm feeling like a fancy pants), or just for simple things like pouring over potato wedges (really tasty).

The biggest downside for me is the saturated fat content per serving. This means I tend to use this as more of an occasional sauce, than something I'd use every day.